Island



(No Model.)

O. A. POTTER. 5

CAPSTAN.

NO. 555,121. Patented P55. 25, 1895.

W/TNESSES /NVENTOH oaw 7,

Nrrnn STATES ATENT FFIcE.

CHARLES A. POTTER, OF PROVIDEXCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THI` AMERICAN SHIP YVIXDLASS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAPSTAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,121, dated February 25, 1896.

Application filed October 30, 1895 To all whmn it m/coy 0070087117,:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. POTTER, a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have inyented certain new and useful Improvements in Capstans; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to capstans, and more particularly to those which are provided with sockets or pockets for the insertion of removable bars, by which the capstan may be driven by manual power. Ilitherto the bar holes or sockets of capstans have usually been protected from the weather, if at all, by plugs of wood or metal, and the objection to their use is that they are liable to get loose, and are constantly getting misplaced, and too much time is consumed in inserting and removing them.

Another form of bar-hole stopper occasionally employed hitherto consists of a hinged cap or lid, one for each hole, and so arranged as to drop down when the bar is removed and to cover the opening. 'These hinged lids close themselves and may be made to lock themselves closed; but when the bars are to be inserted it is necessary to ra-ise each lid separately and hold it up while the bar is beinginserted,which is a tedious and sometimes troublesome operation. These lids are also liable to become broken or get loose when the vessel is rolling in a seaway.

The object of my invention is to provide a capstan with simple yet eftlcient means of closing` or covering the bar sockets orpockets when the capstan-bars are removed, so that all the bar sockets orpockets of a capstan can be opened simultaneously with a single movement and automatically locked open or all closed with a single movement and automatically locked in that position.

My invention consists of certain combinations of the capstan with covers for the capstan-bar holes, the covers being so connected that they may all be opened by a single movement, and also with means for locking the 50 series of covers in position.

My invention may be embodied in various forms as circumstanccs or the views of differ- Serial Na. 567,44` (No model.)

ent constructors or uses render expedient; but in order that it may be fully understood I have represented in the accompanying drawings and Will pr'oceed to describe the best form in which I have thus far embodied it for practical use.

In the aceompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents an elevation, partly in section, of a capstan embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the capstan-head with my ring bar-hole stopper in its closed position. This figure also shows a means for looking the bar-hole stopper in position. Figs. 3 and 4: represent details of the looking device selected for illustration.

The capstan A represented in said drawings has in its head a series of sockets or pockets B for the insertion of removable bars. These pockets or sockets may be of any suitable form; but it is necessary for the proper application of my invention that the diameter of the bar-hole be less than the breadth of the space between adjacent bar-holes.

A series of hole-covers O, one for each hole, is provided; and these are connected by two flanges or rims (Z d, forming as a whole a ring bar-hole stopper or circular frame, having as many openings b Z), similarly spaced, as there may be bar-holes in the capstan, these openings being of course large enough for the bars to pass through. The covers O should be larger than the bar sockets or pockets and similarly spaced. A shelf or collar m on the capstan serves to hold up the circular frame or ring bar-hole stopper, and furnishes a support upon which it may be turned upon the capstan-head. It is evident that if this circular frame or ring bar-hole stopper be placed upon the capstan, resting on the shelf m, so that a hole Z) in the said stopper corresponds with a bar-hole Bin the capstan-head, all the bar sockets or pockets B will be exposed to receive the bars, and if now the ringbe turned upon the capstan-head so that the openings b will come opposite the solid parts of the capstan-head the solid parts of the cover O will cover the pockets in the capstan and all the capstan-holes will be covered.

A convenient method of looking the ring bar-hole stopper will now be described; but the invention is not restricted to anyparticu- IOO lar means for looking said ring-stopper. The said method is bya latch and a recess. The latch E maybe so hinged to the bottom fiange or rim d of the ring,` bar-hole stopper that it will drop by its own gravity into the recesses e e' provided in the support or collar m. This cover-latch E may be hinged at h by a pin passing through lug's c c on the cover-latch E, Fig. 3, and through a corresponding lug' D, Fig. 4, which may be screwed into the flange or rim d, as shown at a, Fig'. 2.

lVhen the bar-hole covers O O are in position to completely cover the soekets or pockets, or when the latter are open for admission of the capstan-bars, the nose or point 7a of the latch E swings, by reason of the excess of weight in the thumb-piece of the latch, into one or other of the recesses e e' in the capstan-head.

The slit n, in which the latch E travels when diseng'aged from a recess, is of limited length, so that the ring bar-hole stopper cannot overtravel and the latch finds its own seat in the recess.

In the operation of the device it is simply necessary to raise the thumb-piece of the cover-latch E (thus unlocking` all of the covers at once) and to partly turn the circular frame or ring' bar-hole stopper, which was locked at e, until the cover-latch E catches automatically at the position e', thus looking` all the covers in a position to leave open all of the bar sockets or pockets and admit the insertion of the bars.

In closing', the eovers are unlocked by raising' the thumb-piece of the cover-latch E from the recess e', and the bar-hole stopper is turned until its latch reaches the recess e, where they are automatically locked, as before.

Having' fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a capstan pro- Vided with sockets or pockets, adapted to receive an Operating bar or lever, of a ring,` barhole cover having` openings corresponding with the pockets or sockets of the capstan, and arrang'ed'to inclose that portion of the capstan which is provided with such pockets, so that by a turning movement of the ring' bar-hole cover its openings may be placed opposite the eorresponding pockets or sockets in the oapstan for the adinission of the operating bars or poles; or by a return movement the solid parts between the opening's of the ring` bar-hole cover will form suitable covers for the Operating-bar pockets or sockets in the capstan, substantially as before set forth.

The combination of a capstan provided with pockets or sockets, adapted to receive an Operating bar or pole, a ring bar-hole stopper having` corresponding1 opening's which by a turning` movement are placed opposite the corresponding' pockets or sockets in the capstan for admission of the Operating-bars, the solid parts between said openings in the said cover forming' suitable covers for the pockets or sockets in the capstan, and a cover latch or looking device, so arranged as to lock the covers, either in a close or an open position, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have sign ed this specification in the presence of two Subscribing` witnesses.

CHARLES A. POTTER.

"itnessesz GILMAN E. JoPP, WM. W. RicKARD. 

